Shine
by Muse-icfan756
Summary: Belldom Christmas drabbles! I forgot that they're still on tour and pretty much ignored Matt's broken foot but otherwise it's non-AU.
1. 9 days to go

**We put up the decorations yesterday and I'm feeling sickeningly festive, so I had to let it out of my system. Enjoy : )**

The light filtered in softly, bathing the bedroom in a warm glow. Dominic shifted under the covers, wrapping his arm around the slim torso beside him and smacking his lips together, eyes fluttering open. Slowly adjusting himself to the morning, he began to gently comb through the rich brown hair of the man beside him, stroking his face every so often. Blue eyes flickered open to meet his own greys and he smiled.

"Morning, Bells," he whispered. He got a lazy grin in reply as the other man closed his eyes shut again.

"Is it Christmas yet?" Matthew murmured and Dom chuckled lightly.

"Not just yet. Nearly."

"How much longer."

"Nine...is it nine days? Nine days." Matt huffed and a hand appeared from under the duvet, pulling the bottom of it over his feet once again from where he'd kicked it off during the night. Their bodies were encased in a bubble of shared warmth and neither particularly wanted to get out.

"You remember what we planned to do today?" Matt nodded, hair fluffing around him. "You wanna get up?" A shake of the head. Dom laughed again. "Come on, Matt." He extracted himself from the bed, wrapping a dressing gown around himself and padding to the door.

"I'll be making breakfast in the kitchen if you decide to get up," Dom teased.

Half an hour later, Matt appeared in the kitchen and wrapped his arms around the blonde standing at the hob. Dom could smell freshly washed skin and aftershave; Matt could smell pancakes. He poured two glasses of orange juice and placed them at the table, nipping into the living room and returning with an armful of CDs. He picked one and inserted it in the CD player, turning the volume up as high as he could handle at eight in the morning. Cheery Christmas music rang around the room, Dom nodding his head in time to the lively beats. He flipped a pancake to the applause of his boyfriend and slipped it onto a plate, placing a few bits of chopped-up banana in it and drizzling it in chocolate sauce. He rolled it up and handed it to Matt, who tucked in with a huge grin.

Dom sat opposite him with his own, healthier pancake. He was still dressed in his long, plaid pyjamas and his golden hair was mussed up. Pulling a notepad from the cupboard next to him, he ripped out a page and began to make notes for the day.

"The shopping centre doesn't close until nine tonight, so we'll have twelve hours if we leave soon," he mused. Matt's jaw dropped open with incredulity.

"_Twelve hours?_ You must be joking, right?" Dom lifted his head from his note-making to meet his eyes.

"No. Why?"

"I'm not spending twelve hours shopping. I can't even manage seven with you. Do you think I can handle walking around for a whole twelve hours? That's the whole day gone!"

"We've got so much to get done, though, Matt. You agreed to this." Matt grumbled to himself.

"There's no way I'm letting it take that long. I'll have to figure something out." He peered over at Dom's shopping list where he had noted all the people they had to buy for. They were going to Chris' house for Christmas Eve, so they'd need presents for all their friends that would be there. The next day, both their mothers were coming over, so that'd be Christmas dinner for four and gifts for them too. And then, of course, the house looked out of place on a street covered with sparkling lights, so they also needed to get a tree.

"Is all this stuff going to fit in the car?" Matt wondered.

"I hope so," Dom laughed nervously, scratching the side of his nose. "I'm going to have a shower. Write down anything you think of whilst I'm gone, yeah?" He touched Matt's cheek softly and then left for the bathroom.

* * *

The pair wandered hand in hand through the high street, bundled up in layers of warm clothes. Matt snuggled deeper into his woollen scarf, envious of Dom's thick hat. They peered into shop windows framed with tinsel, inhaling the crisp air and smells of fresh coffee and roasted chestnuts. The ground was icy beneath their feet, and the river running through the town looked as though it would freeze over any second.

After checking his list, Dom dragged him into the nearest toy shop. The shelves were full of toys of all types, from robotic dinosaurs to make-your-own doll kits to vibrant jigsaw puzzles. People of all ages were bustling about, weaving through the aisles and picking things off the shelf. Matt's eyes widened and his face lit up, and he rushed off to the back of the store, Dom in tow behind him. He ran one hand through his hair, shaking his head playfully at his childish boyfriend.

The younger man snatched a giant teddy bear dressed as Santa from the shelf, hugging it to his body, sapphire eyes full of glee.

"Look how huge it is!" he cried, burying his face in the fake fur. Dom had one hand on his hip as he watched his boyfriend and debated whether he'd have to pull him off a shelf any time soon.

"And who's this for then?" he inquired, eyebrows raised. Matthew slowly pulled his face away from the bear, shaking its paw towards Dom.

"One of Chris' kids, maybe?" The little bell hanging from the bear's hat jingled as Matt jiggled it, giggling to himself.

"And would you be willing to give it away?" Matt swallowed.

"Of course!" Dom rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Matt. The only kid who'd actually want something like that would be overpowered. Teddi's not even one year old yet." Matt pouted, hiding his face behind the bear so that only his hair was visible. He poked his head out from behind it and retreated. Dom pulled his phone out of his pocket, snapping a shot of the man playing with the bear.

"Pwease, Dom?" He tried to make his eyes and round and shiny as possible, but to no avail.

"If we get that, there won't be any room in the car for anything else. Come on, Matt." They sat the bear back on the shelf, Matt adjusting its hat one last time before leaving to search for other people's presents.

After almost two hours of running around the shop and dragging Matt away from various different toys that he became too attached to-literally, in the case of the Velcro picture creator-Dom emerged from the shop laden with bags and a huge grin. Matt sulked behind him, throwing glances at the shop as he realised where Dom was heading now.

"What do you think Kelly would want?" Dom asked. Matt let his head hang, sighing to himself as he checked his watch. It was definitely going to be a long day.

* * *

The pair sat on a frozen bench in the middle of town. They both cradled cups of hot chocolate in their glove-covered hands, Matt's covered in cream and marshmallows. They watched the people rushing by as they sat, thighs pressed together, Matt's head resting on Dom's shoulder with his hair tickling the only exposed skin available. Several bags sat at Dom's feet, the pair now finished with most of their presents and sufficiently worn up. Matt curled up into Dom's side, sipping at his hot chocolate and humming along to the songs floating from the shop doors.

The ground crunched beneath their feet as they explored the area, Matt's hands shoved deep into his pockets and Dom's stroking the trees around them. The icy air bit at their rosy cheeks and noses, wind ruffling their hair as the sky grew dark.

"What do you think of this one, Matt?" Dom asked, guiding Matt to a large tree near them. He shrugged; they all looked the same to him.

"Don't you think it's a little big for our living room? It'll poke through the roof!"

"That's true." He left that tree and went in search of a similar, smaller one. Matt's legs were weary as he followed the other man, his arms dangling. He scanned the area, looking for a nice tree, and a small pine caught his eye. He rushed after the other man, life slowly creeping back into his eyes as he tugged on the fabric of Dom's coat and dragged him back to the tree he'd found. It was only as tall as Dom himself, which would leave room for a star on top. Thick branches stuck out from the main branch and, as they got closer, the refreshing scent of pine needles wafted towards them.

"Isn't it perfect?" Matt breathed, still clinging to Dom's shirt. They nodded together and finally the man selling the trees jogged up to them.

"You seem pretty taken with this one," he noticed, small, nervous laughs interspersed throughout his speech. "She really is a beauty."

"Indeed," Dom agreed. "How much do you want for her?"

* * *

They pulled up at the house once again and Matt leapt out of the car, rushing to the boot. He flung it open and then paused, scratching his chin and waiting for Dom.

"Okay, if I go and unlock the front door and you start to get it out, I'll come and help, yeah?" Dom suggested, already heading for the house. He twisted the keys in the door, eager to get inside where it was warm and cosy, and propped it open with a shoebox. Meanwhile, Matt was trying and failing to haul the tree out of the car, finding it much too big to carry. As soon as he managed to pull the top of it from the boot, it sprung up in front of his face, the thick branches blocking his view.

"Erm, Dom?" he called. "A little help, please?" Dom turned back from the door to see a Christmas tree waddling towards him, stray branches dragging along the floor. He raced back to the car just as it began to topple over and flung his arms out, the branches scratching against him as he fought to stop the three of them falling over. The tree was now squashed between him and Matt, and he could see Matt's grin through the branches. Slowly, he manoeuvred himself backwards and together they made their way to the front door, branches shifting around them and scraping their faces. Matt nearly got a pine needle up his nose and sneezed endlessly for five minutes, but in the end, they reached the house safely.

Dom kicked the door open and stepped inside, cringing as he realised they'd have to walk into the living room and all over the cream carpet in their shoes. Matt poked his tongue out at him, watching the dents form between his eyebrows and knowing exactly what Dom was thinking.

Together, they heaved the tree into the corner of the living room. Matt stepped back and appraised it with his hands on his hips whilst Dom went to slip off his shoes. The tree drooped over so slightly to the right and some of the branches looked a bit sparse.

"Don't you think it looks sort of...different?" he wondered, Dom returning and wrapping his arms around Matt's waist. The smaller man leaned back into the embrace, letting his body fall against the warmth.

"It'll look better when we've decorated it tomorrow," Dom reassured him. They stood there for a little while just watching the tree, their eyes occasionally flickering to the window to see if anything had changed outside. Matt's stomach growled and interrupted the silence, the pair giggling. Dom rubbed his belly. "We'll sort this out and then go to sleep, yeah? And tomorrow it'll only be eight more days."


	2. 8 days to go

8 days until Christmas. The rain was pouring outside, hammering down on the roof and splashing against the windows. Matt and Dom decided to remain at home in the warmth.

"Dom, where are the glittery stars I bought in Estonia?" Matt yelled from the loft. "I can't find them anywhere!" As he called down, the ladder shook, and Dom steadied it carefully.

"I don't know, Matt. Where did you put them?"

"Up here with the tree! I'm sure of it!" Dom rolled his eyes.

"Maybe they're in the box with the rest of the decorations. Come down now, Matt, so we can just decorate it already. Christmas'll be over before you find them." The smaller man shakily made his way down the ladder, cradling a small box of decorations. Dom picked up a larger, cardboard box that they'd found earlier and they headed towards the tree in the living room.

After deciding exactly where it was going to stand, which involved manoeuvring the furniture around one too many times, they set about to putting the lights on it. Dom pulled a large string of lights from the smaller box and handed one end to Matt, marching off with the other end and proceeding to wind it around the body of the tree. He circled the tree several times, Matt dutifully following behind him with the remainder of the lights. They draped the lights over different branches so that the lights weren't all bunched up in the same place, plugging it in to the extension when they finally reached the end.

Matt switched on the lights and they stood back, admiring their tree from the corner of the room. Dom made a few adjustments before joining Matt but, after a few moments of staring at the colourful lights flickering among the pine needles, they realised what was off.

"We should've checked to see if any of the bulbs were broken before we put them on," Dom mumbled. "I'm not sure if we've got any spares. Damn." Matt patted his arm.

"It doesn't look that bad, though. Once we've put the baubles and stuff on, you won't even notice the blank patches," he consoled him, but the other man huffed and shook his head. He crawled off the sofa to the large box and unfolded it, pulling out various different bags and boxes of decorations. He meticulously began to sort them into piles and the yearly routine began. Matt flipped on a pre-made Christmas playlist, slightly less cheery Christmas music bursting from the speakers.

Once the piles had grown to a suitable height, Matt dove down and began to scoop up decorations, grinning with glee as he hung them on the tree. Glossy baubles, wooden reindeer and, yes, glittery stars of all colours swung on the branches as Matt swooped up and down, dancing around the tree. Dom could hear giggling over what sounded distinctly like The Killers, sitting back once he'd finished organising to admire Matt's progress. The tree became increasingly more covered and he realised that Matt had been right-he couldn't even tell where the bulbs had blown.

His eyes started to fall shut, Matt's constant rhythm soothing despite his hyperactivity, and he could feel himself drifting away. He napped for just five minutes until he was woken up by Matt prodding him in the stomach, but the tree had changed dramatically since then. His eyes widened as he took it in, golden lights twinkling in the low light, reflecting off the shiny baubles. The stars winked under the lights and the whole room was given a warm glow. In the middle of it all, his boyfriend stood, smiling at him. Matt had a piece of red tinsel wrapped around his head and Dom bit back his laughter.

"I need help with the star," Matt admitted, holding his hands out to Dom and nodding his head at the large star resting on the coffee table. "Unless you want to do it this year." Dom shook his head, handing the star to Matt and threading his arms under Matt's. "Just a little bit yeah?"

With the tree being taller than usual this year, Matt had a little difficulty reaching the top so that he could complete the tree. With Dom's arms providing support, he was lifted a few inches off the floor and reached over, hands brushing the top of the tree as he slipped the star onto the top. A huge grin spread across his face, eyes sparkling like the lights on the tree and he made to drop to the floor. However, Dom's hands were now tight around his waist.

"You can put me down now, Dom," he told him, but the other man simply smiled. "Dom, seriously." Laughter echoed into his ears and he rolled his eyes. Matt kicked at his legs and Dom simply dragged him away from the tree so that he wouldn't break anything as he flailed, demanding that Dom put him down whilst unable to keep the giant smile off his face. Breathlessly, he fought his way out of Dom's arms, only to pounce on him again and pin him to the sofa with a wicked glint in his eyes.


	3. 7 days to go

After getting distracted the night before, the boys had forgotten to decorate the rest of the house, and they set about completing this task the following day. With the various boxes and bags still strewn across the living room carpet, they fished for various different items and simply strung them around the whole house. Dom was in the middle of hanging a 'Happy Christmas' light on the front window when he heard a cry from the music room.

Music was blasting from this room too, even less related to Christmas than the previous day's tracks. Matt stood in the middle of the wooden floor, mummified in tinsel. Dom could just about see a pair of wide blue eyes poking out through the ribbons of sparkling red and gold, tufts of hair and feet the only other things visible. Dom covered his mouth with one hand, barely able to contain his laughter at Matt's helpless position.

"Please help me," he begged, cries muffled by the tinsel in front of his mouth.

"How did you even end up like this?" Dom asked, not making any move to help Matt out.

"I wash goin' 'o come and shurprishe you. 'T was only mean' 'o be a little bit, but it wash more than I exp-pected-ptt!- and I got tangled up." Dom chuckled, trying to find the tail end of the tinsel and trying to unwind Matthew, who spun around in the middle of the room, the tinsel slowly unravelling and sending him spinning into the piano dizzily.

"I'm sure you know this, but I'd just like to remind you that I think you're ridiculous." Matt nodded, ruffling his hair and picking strands of foil out of it, flicking them to the floor. With Dom's help, they hung the tinsel from the ceiling and threw the remaining pieces over the piano. Dom wound a few extra bits around his drums and then dragged Matt with him to the living room where they finished putting up the window lights together.


	4. 6 days to go

That next evening, the pair found themselves sat at the dining room table, surrounded by dinner plates and discussing Christmas cards. Dom was making a list of people that they were sending cards to, often writing down extra names and ignoring Matt's suggestions of people they barely knew without telling him. Matt migrated to the seat in front of the computer, pulling up Publisher and playing around with different fonts.

"Which picture should we use, Dom?" he wondered.

"Are you sure we've got all of the crew on here?" Dom asked simultaneously.

"Dom?"

" There's a lot of them and this doesn't look nearly enough..."

"Dominic?" Dom's head snapped up.

"Hmm?" He glanced at the computer screen and bit his lip. Matt had brought up a picture taken of the band at a Christmas market in Estonia the week before, where he had purchased the glittery stars. A simple 'Merry Christmas' written in cursive script graced the top corner of the card and Dom shook his head in disbelief.

"You're...insane," he said finally, much to the amusement of Matt.

"It's good, though, right?"

"Sure. Whatever. Go ahead." Matt clapped his hands together and printed off a bunch of cards, rifling through the drawers on the side of the room to find a pen that actually worked. He chucked a few over to Dom and sat beside him, checking the list and setting about scrawling a greeting into one of the cards. Having been distracted by the printing, Dom started afterwards, and Matt knew exactly when he begun without even looking.

"MATT!" Dom screeched. "_What did you do?" _Matt giggled helplessly at Dom's outraged face, a finger pointing to the inside of the card. Matt had written 'Jesus Loves You' in the same font as the front greeting and Dom's face was flushed bright red.

"I thought it was a good idea. It's funny, isn't it?" Matt laughed, pausing in his own writing so that his handwriting wasn't made any less legible than usual. Dom stared at the inside of the card and, as the seconds ticked by, the ends of his lips began to twitch.

"I can see your point, but...what will the neighbours think?" Matt bit the inside of his cheek.

"They seem fairly good-humoured to me. I'm sure they'll be able to take a joke."

"I sure hope so."


End file.
